Get
involved in Cowboy Poetry Week activities! We have ideas and
information about how you can be a part of the celebration and involve
your libraries, schools, and communities; get your governor and mayor
involved; write to your states' representatives and senators; send
information to your arts council; report to newspapers and radios; write
a poem for Art Spur; and more. Read how you
can be a part of Cowboy Poetry weekbelow.

For Cowboy Poetry
Week's second year, in April 2003, the United
States Senate passed a resolution, with unanimous approval, recognizing our Cowboy Week
celebration. In
past years, twenty
states’ governors have officially proclaimed Cowboy Poetry Week and there
are a growing number of activities across the West and beyond.

We have scheduled April 22, 2009 for our Cowboy Poetry
Night. It will be from 7-8:30 at the Touchet School. We will be having a
poetry contest once more and inviting all who care to join in to recite
their poetry. We are still in the planning stages.

One of the largest cowboy poetry and music
events in the Midwest returns to Mountain View, Missouri, on April 24-26,
2009, when nearly two dozen performers from five states are expected to
participate in the 12th annual gathering of the Missouri Cowboy Poets
Association.

Held at the Mountain View Community Center, the annual festival attracts
cowboy musicians, singers and recording artists, cowboy poets,
storytellers, country humorists, chuckwagon cooks and rope spinners from
throughout Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas.

The three-day event kicks off Friday afternoon, April 24, with a special
performance for Mountain View Elementary students, followed by a "Supper
with the Cowboys" dinner and show beginning at 5:00 p.m. Performances that
evening will also feature the winners of the Mountain View Elementary 5th
grade cowboy poetry competition. Dinner/show tickets are available at the
door for $12 per person, or show tickets only for $6.

Saturday morning, April 25, will feature performances for residents of the
Mountain View Health Care Center, and a free show for the public at the
Community Center. At 1:00 p.m., the public is invited back to the
Community Center for a free afternoon show.

At 7:00 that evening, all performers will present a "grand finale" cowboy
poetry and music show at the Community Center. Tickets will be available
at the door for $6 per person. On Sunday morning, April 26, the poets and
musicians will conclude the event with Cowboy Church at the Mountain View
Methodist Church.

Mountain View is located in south-central Missouri, about 100 miles east
of Springfield. The Missouri Cowboy Poetry Festival is organized by Jennie
Cummings, Director of the Mountain View Arts Council, and is underwritten
by a grant from the Missouri Arts Council.

Cowboy Poetry Week:
one on Monday, April 20, and another on Friday, April 24. Poets
are invited to email co-host
Tamara Boatright
(tamaraboatright@hotmail.com)
to schedule a time to call in. In 2008, over 30 poets called in
to the Ralph's Back Porch Cowboy Poetry Week show.

The show's regular broadcasts take place each Monday and Friday, from 7-9 PM (Central),
and there is also
a
streaming 24/7 internet show at
www.live365.com/stations/ralphsbackporch, "spinning
cowboy music, poetry and classic western for your entertainment" and
including syndicated shows.

Listeners can rate selections and there are links for purchasing
featured CDs.

The Monday and Friday shows
include Western music, cowboy poetry, interviews, and calls from
listeners, and the show hosts a simultaneous chat board. Archived shows
are available on demand at the
Ralph's Back Porch web site.

Governor Schweitzer writes, in part, "I am pleased to recognize Cowboy
Poetry Week in the state of Montana...Cowboy poetry has a rich history in
Montana and has been an integral part of our rich cultural legacy. I am
proud of our numerous well-respected contemporary cowboy poets and look
forward to the next generation of storytellers from Big Sky Country."

Verna Keoho is a wood artist, and you can see some of her work
here. Her brother is artist
Edwin Kayton,
who has been prolific in the mediums of oils, drawing
and sculpture for over 25 years, portraying the cultures of Hawaii, Italy
(where he lives in the summer) and the western genre. His work is collected
internationally. Ed Kayton is related to
Yvonne Hollenbeck. Visit
his web site, www.kayton-art.com,
for his paniolo paintings,
which include a portrait of
cowboy, horseman, and poet
Joel Nelson, who
worked at the Parker Ranch.)

“Between Fences” is a Museum on Main Street exhibit from the Smithsonian
Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. Sturgis is the only west river
community in South Dakota to be able to host this exhibit. “Between
Fences” is about our homes and the land on which they’re built. It’s the
story of the settling of the United State and the creation of
communities. It’s about different kinds of fences, where they’re used,
and the materials used to make them. It’s about why people build fences.
It’s about intimacy and conflict, creativity and industry. Between
Fences is about defining ourselves as Americans—our philosophies, our
lifestyles, our values and beliefs, our national ethos, and our national
borders. For more information, please visit the Smithsonian's Between
Fences website at:
http://www.museumonmainstreet.org/exhibs_fences/fences.htm. Between
Fences is s part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the
Smithsonian Institution and the SD Humanities Council. This Exhibit, as
well as many of our Between Fences related events, are sponsored in part
by the SD Humanities Council.

A Poetry Contest for 4th grade through adults is open to folks residing
at a Hooker, Oklahoma mailing address, since the town was named for that
famous early day Cowboy; John "Hooker" Threlkeld. Winners will be invited
to share their poem with the group that day.

Guest Speakers will be the authors Gary
and Margaret Kraisinger who wrote the big book The Western:
Greatest Cattle Trail from Texas. Books will be available for sale.
The Library group is hoping their featured authors of last year's
celebration will also be on hand; Janet Eggleston, author of
Horses, Hats and Heroes, and Chimp
Robertson, who wrote Killin' Time. An art contest is also
open to Hooker residents for the best representation of Hooker Threlkeld,
his life, or his work in any media.

From the 2008 event description:

Library Director Carolyn Blackwelder writes
that she is always glad for an opportunity to clarify the origins of her
city's name, and shared some information from Lost Trails of the Cimarron
by Harry E. Chrisman.

"The Legend of Hooker Threlkeld"

John “Hooker” Threlkeld
was so nick-named after General “Fighting Joe” Hooker of Civil War fame,
some say. Others say he received his name after an old cattleman on the
Beaver River whose name was Hooker. Still others say he received his name by
being such a “Hooker—of cattle”—that is, a top roper. Wherever he received
that nickname, we know how the town of Hooker, got it’s name for it was
named after John “Hooker” Threlkeld. Hooker was born in Kentucky, November
134, 1846. He came west with his parents to Missouri. On May 15, 1864, he
joined up with a freight outfit and bullwhacked west from Omaha to Virginia
City, Montana with his two brothers. In 1873, Hooker came to No Man’s Land
where he spent the next thirty years in the saddle. He was foreman for the
OX Ranch many years. When the OX withdrew to Montana after the disastrous
blizzards of 1886, Hooker was given their side camp on the Frisco, later the
Tom Stratton Ranch. That year Hooker married Hannah Davis of Greeley,
Kansas. When Hannah’s folks came to that region, Hooker yielded his ranch,
the XX Frisco, they called it, to her parents, and he and Hannah went to
open up a new place farther up the Frisco. They called the new ranch the
Hooker Ranch. He hauled lumber for his new home from Dodge and also built
outbuilding of sod and stone....

Old cowboys who have seen
Hooker in action described him as one of the really great ropers of the day,
a man who could ride quietly into a heard, drop a tight, small, and fast
loop from either side of his mount and catch calves standing beside or under
their mothers. This type of roping, more so than the sensational run and
catch kind, accomplished the day’s work on the range with speed and without
ostentation. It was the sort of roping most highly regarded by the cowmen
themselves..... He died December 5, 1939 at Redondo Beach, California.

For more contest rules or more information about the event, please
email the library at
OWL73945@yahoo.com or write PO Box 576, Hooker, Oklahoma 73945 or
phone 580-652-2835 Tue or Thurs 11:00 to 6:00 pm.

April 11, 2009 at the
historic Leslie J. Savage Library,
Western State College of Colorado, Gunnison, Colorado with John Nelson,
7:00 PM; Leslie J. Savage Library, Western State College, 600 North Adams
Street, Gunnison, Colorado

Nevada Slim and Cimarron Sue (www.nevadaslim.com)
have organized many Cowboy
Poetry Week
activities, including those with rural libraries, in their area around
Prescott, Washington. They will perform, often with others, and
will be reading the Governor's Proclamation at all of these events
and will give some background on Cowboy Poetry Week as part of each
performance.

As libraries in the
Rural Library
Project begin to receive the
Cowboy Poetry Week poster and an invitation for The
BAR-D Roundup: Volume Four for their collections, some report they
will have programs and exhibits for Cowboy Poetry Week. A list of
events is posted below, along with a separate list of
libraries planning exhibits.

If you have a library to suggest for the Rural Library project,
email us. We particularly like to add libraries that serve
ranching communities.

The Southern Oregon Farm Festival,
held April 25-26, 2009 near
Eagle Point, Oregon

,
will celebrate Cowboy Poetry Week.

From organizer Kathy Barlow:

The Lake Creek Historical Society is working
with an 1870's Antique Farm House organization and hosting a Farm Festival the last weekend in April, April 25 & 26, 2009. The
location is the Walter Wood House property, on 36 acres right beside
Hwy. 62, north of Eagle Point, Oregon.

The proclamation notes that the state "...recognizes the importance of this
art form filled with the vivid imagery and dignity of cowboy life" and
recognizes that, "This year marks the eighth anniversary of celebrating
Cowboy Poetry Week, which emphasizes the significance of rural libraries
through the Rural Library Project, and is held each year during the third
week of April, in conjunction with National Poetry Month in the United
States and Canada..."

The proclamation notes that, "Through cowboy poetry, we are allowed into the
emotions and thoughts of those who made history and those who continue to
live and work in the cowboy culture today...cowboy poetry gives us access to
life on the range with all its accompanying excitement, hardships, and
dreams..."

[photo of
Linda Kirkpatrick by Jeri
L. Dobrowski; see her gallery of western performers and others
here.]

Posted 3/31

The Cowboy Poets of Utah hold their annual Heritage
Dinner, in celebration of
Cowboy
Poetry Week, on April 25, 2009, at the Mi Rancharito
Restaurant, in Payson (85 E. Utah Ave), starting at 3 PM. The annual Heritage
Award will be bestowed on a member. President CR Wood writes, "We'll share
good food, good ideas, give out some awards, and hear from folks who'll help
us widen our exposure...Plan to share a poem, song, thought or tribute."

Calling All Cowboys, with host
Charley Engel ("Chuckaroo the
Buckaroo") will air a special Cowboy Poetry
Week show
for the week starting April 22, 2009. The show will include
an interview with Australian bush poet Milton Taylor.

Calling All Cowboysis a
weekly, two-hour show from Bend, Oregon, which includes cowboy music, cowboy
poetry, and interviews. The show is broadcast live on Wednesdays at 6 PM and
rebroadcast Sundays at 8AM. Each current show is
available on demand for one week at the

Appropriately located in Gold Hill, a mile south of
Virginia City on Highway 342, Nevada’s oldest hotel will feature a special
buffet dinner after which the cowboy duo will perform both original and
traditional poetry and song as part of the Comstock hotel’s popular
Tuesday night entertainment series.

The sing’in sidekicks say they dare folks to come out
and try to have more fun than they do as they josh each other and the
audience between presentations of both their original material and
traditional renditions of cowboy poetry and western song.

A Texas native, Weatherby grew up singing and playing
in a family with a strong music tradition influenced by their neighbor Bob
Wills. An accomplished guitarist, his Texas accent lends authenticity to
a great selection of cowboy songs.

Golden, grew up in the 40’s and 50’s in the small
ranching community of Cedarville, in remote northeastern California. His
thought provoking and often-humorous original poetry on contemporary
ranching is punctuated with hilarious poems from the past.

The special buffet dinner and show is $25.00 per
person. Buffet from 5:00 til 7:00 pm with entertainment beginning at 7:30
pm. For information and reservations call: 775 847-0111.

Posted 4/8

North Dakota radio broadcaster Al
Gustin, known widely throughout
the region as the "dean" of farm broadcasting, celebrates
Cowboy Poetry
Week on his shows on KBMRand
KFYR, which
are heard throughout the day.

Ralph's Back Porch
radio
will be
broadcasting two special call-in shows during
Cowboy Poetry Week: one on
Monday, April 20, and another on Friday, April 24. Poets are invited
to email co-host
Tamara Boatright
(tamaraboatright@hotmail.com)
to schedule a time to call in. In 2008, over 30 poets called in to the
Ralph's Back Porch Cowboy Poetry Week show.

The show's regular broadcasts take place each Monday and Friday, from 7-9 PM (Central),
and there is also
a
streaming 24/7 internet show at
www.live365.com/stations/ralphsbackporch, "spinning
cowboy music, poetry and classic western for your entertainment" and
including syndicated shows.

Listeners can rate selections and there are links for purchasing
featured CDs.

The Monday and Friday shows
include Western music, cowboy poetry, interviews, and calls from
listeners, and the show hosts a simultaneous chat board. Archived shows
are available on demand at the
Ralph's Back Porch web site.

Doris writes the workshops is "...geared for youth and adults, you don't
have to have any experience to come. Just be someone with
an enthusiasm for the English language, a sense of fun, and a willingness to
put the 'try' into poetry."

The Prescott Library in Washington State participated
in the Rural Library Program for Cowboy Poetry Week last year—and we
are gearing up for our event this year! We have an event planned on
April 21st featuring Nevada Slim and Cimarron Sue (www.nevadaslim.com)
and cowboy poet Jessica Hedges (www.jessicahedgescowboypoetry.com).

[pictured: Nevada Slim and Cimarron
Sue]

Posted 4/13

The
Clear Out West (C. O. W.)radio show celebrates Cowboy Poetry Week
on its syndicated broadcast, the week of April 20, 2009. (The show will be
available on the show's web site starting April 27, 2009, and then available
on demand from the show's archives.)

Representative Joe Dorman
and
State Senator Tom Sweeden
have co-authored HCR 1021, a Concurrent Resolution recognizing cowboy poetry
in the State of Oklahoma and designating “Cowboy Poetry Week” in the State
of Oklahoma.

Posted 4/15

Through Tennessee poet

Woody Woodruff's
efforts, Tennessee
State Senator Doug Jackson
has introduced
SJR0244, a joint Senate Resolution Naming and Designating Cowboy Poetry
Week, April 19-25, 2009, in Tennessee. There's a video of the reading of the
consent process at about 1:41
here.

Woody Woodruff has also received a Proclamation from Hickman
County Tennessee, from County

Mayor Steve Gregory, Proclaiming
the week of April 19 through 25, 2009 as Cowboy Poetry Week in Hickman
County, Tennessee.

A very special tip of the hat to New Mexico’s Governor
Bill Richardson for his continued support of the Cowboy and for his
proclamation declaring April 19-25, 2009 as Cowboy Poetry Week in the Land
Of Enchantment. [Ed. note:
See the proclamation here.]

You can hear the entire show by going to:
www.BackfortyBunkhouse.com.
Scroll down to black banner and click on W-105 radio logo, turn up your
volume, and enjoy. Or in New Mexico and West Texas, tune your raio to KWMW,
105.1FM & 99.1FM or KNMB, 96.7FM.

"Greetings to everyone celebrating Cowboy Poetry
Week...today's modern ranchers, cowboys, and cowgirls continue to
inspire. As you gather to celebrate this heritage through poetry, I
offer California's gratitude for the men and women [who] make our
land the greatest in the world. Thank you for your efforts to
support the arts in such a fantastic way, and please accept my best
wishes for your success."

Nevada Slim and Cimarron Sue
are taking part in several Cowboy Poetry Week programs in their region.
They will perform, often with others, and
will be reading the Governor's Proclamation at all of these events
and will give some background on Cowboy Poetry Week as part of each
performance.

We're proud to announce the release of The BAR-D
Roundup: Volume 4, the Center's fourth annual cowboy
poetry compilation CD.
The CD is offered to libraries in our community outreach
Rural Library Project,
available to our supporters, and
available for purchase.

Gail Steiger recites "The Dude
Wrangler" written by his grandfather, Gail
Gardner, and Jesse Smith recites "The Black Beauty" by
the late rodeo legend Johnie Schneider. The CD has a fourth annual
selection from Grass, the master work by the late Buck Ramsey,
a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, recognized as the modern
spiritual leader of cowboy poetry.

The CD includes a radio public service announcement written and
delivered by top cowboy poet and philosopher Baxter Black.

This year's cover features an irresistible image of
Gail Gardner as a boy, from an 1890s
tintype, provided by the Gardner and Steiger families. Inside,
there's a contemporary photo of three generations of the cowboys in
Jay Snider's family, taken on the Snider ranch
in Cyril, Oklahoma.

Poems and permissions were generously donated by poets, musicians,
families, and publishers.

Find more information in our feature
here, along with order information and
special offers.

Posted 4/19

During Cowboy Poetry Week, North Dakota radio broadcaster Al
Gustinis presenting interviews and poetry
on his shows on KBMRand
KFYR, which
are heard throughout the day.
He will featureFran Armstrong of Beulah, North Dakota, on
Monday; Bob Petermann of Wibaux,
Montana, on Wednesday; and Bill Lowman of Belfield, North Dakota, on Friday.

Known widely throughout the region as the "dean" of farm
broadcasting, he has assisted North Dakota's
Morton Mandan Library
with their Cowboy Poetry Week display.

and co-host Smoke Wade
(pictured) celebrate Cowboy Poetry Week on the
Western Heritage Show,
Friday, April 24, 2009. The show is broadcast live on KRLC 1350AM in
Lewiston, Idaho 10:00 - Noon (Pacific). They invite listeners to call
208-746-7669 during the show "and let us know how you are celebrating
Cowboy Poetry Week."

Poets
Jane Morton (pictured) and
Dick Morton,
Black Forest cowboy singer Roger Stone,
and local poets bring their talents to the Black Forest Community Hall near
Colorado Springs, Colorado for an evening of cowboy poetry, Thursday, April
23, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.

Free and open to the public, the program, sponsored by the
Black Forest Community Club, celebrates Cowboy Poetry Week.

Updated 4/21

Ralph's Back Porch
radio
aired its second annual Cowboy Poetry Week "cowboy poetry jam
session" show (the first of two during Cowboy Poetry Week) on Monday, April 20, 2009. Poets and reciters who
called in and performed included

Ralph's Back Porch will be
broadcasting another special call-in show during
Cowboy Poetry Week, on

Friday, April 24,
2009. Poets are invited
to email co-host
Tamara Boatright
(tamaraboatright@hotmail.com)
to schedule a time to call in. In 2008, over 30 poets called in to the
Ralph's Back Porch Cowboy Poetry Week show.

The show's regular broadcasts take place each Monday and Friday, from 7-9 PM (Central),
and there is also
a
streaming 24/7 internet show at
www.live365.com/stations/ralphsbackporch, "spinning
cowboy music, poetry and classic western for your entertainment" and
including syndicated shows.

Listeners can rate selections and there are links for purchasing
featured CDs.

The Monday and Friday shows
include Western music, cowboy poetry, interviews, and calls from
listeners, and the show hosts a simultaneous chat board. Archived shows
are available on demand at the
Ralph's Back Porch web site.

For three years, the
Oklahoma State University Library collaborated with the
OSU Rodeo Team and Booster Club and hosted an Oklahoma
Cowboy Poetry and Songs Event. Even though we weren’t able
to hold an event this year, the library still wanted to
participate in Cowboy Poetry Week. We put up an attractive
exhibit in a high-traffic area of the library. I’ve
included two photos of this display. Four students stopped
and looked at it within 15 minutes after it was finished,
so I think it has turned out well and is serving the
purpose of promoting the library collection and Cowboy
Poetry Week!

... It just so happened that
Cowboy Poetry Week was a week after National Library Week,
and we at Kimble County Library combined the two and had a
celebration for both. We thought you might be interested
in hearing about the celebration. It was held April 21
(11:30 AM until 1:30 PM) on the front lawn of our library.
We had a local cowboy poet,

Pete Davis,
share some of his poetry. As we served beans and cornbread
throughout this time,
R.C. Lackey,
a local musician performed many old cowboy songs. The
entire community was invited. (Our county population is
2500). There were about 50 that attended and enjoyed all
the festivities. They all vote to do it again next year...

Posted 4/22

The

Creswell (Oregon) Chronicle
marks Cowboy Poetry Week on its
front page, with an
image of the Cowboy Poetry Week poster and the text of the
Cowboy Poetry Week
proclamation from Texas Governor Rick Perry.

This is the fourth year
that our local cowboy poets and musicians have joined with
us at the library to celebrate Cowboy Poetry week
and National Library Week through a Library Open House.

On Friday of Cowboy Poetry week the library hosts an open
house to show off all the resources we have. The local
cowboy poets and musicians have performed for us all day
long to keep things lively and interesting. The musicians
or poets perform for a half hour, then the library staff
takes the next half hour to demonstrate our new website,
or newly remodeled areas or new programs or whatever we
have new for this year. We continue to switch all day
long, while people drop in, eat cake, listen to music and
poetry and learn about the library. It has been a huge
success each year, with over 500 people attending
throughout the day.

One feature that is really nice is that our young, up and
coming cowboy poets (grade school age and up), write and
perform their own pieces. We want to encourage their
future interest in poetry.

Tri-State Livestock News
describes itself, in part, as "...the commercial cattlemen’s
publication, located in the heart of one of the greatest
beef cow/calf producing regions in the world. This area is
home to many of America’s most astute ranchers, reputable
commercial cow herds, high performance feeder cattle,
progressive auction markets, purebred beef cattle leaders,
top notch horse operations and leading sheep producers."

Celebrating
Cowboy Poetry Week in the Puget Sound Area of Washington
State, Clark Crouch and Del Gustafson, both contributors
to CowboyPoetry.com, entertained an audience of about 100
in Monroe, Washington on Wednesday, April 22, 2009. The
public "Cowboy Up" meeting was sponsored for the community
by the Monroe Toastmasters Club. In addition to their
poems on this site, the two cowboy presenters have also
been featured in Open Range
Magazine, a publication based in Glenrock,
Wyoming.

Posted 4/25

Many radio shows celebrated
Cowboy Poetry Week, and some have archived
shows that you can listen to on-demand on the web:

The
Clear Out West (C. O. W.)radio show celebrates
Cowboy Poetry Week
on its syndicated broadcast, the week of April 20, 2009. (The show will be
available on the show's web site starting April 27, 2009, and then available
on demand from the show's archives.)